


Father's Day

by sasha_b



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, Bromance, Brotp, Comment Fic, Community: comment_fic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Matt has feelings, Post-Season/Series 01, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-30
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-26 11:56:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3850084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_b/pseuds/sasha_b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt and memory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Father's Day

**Author's Note:**

> I hate summaries. 
> 
> For this prompt: _any. any parental figure. "I've been where you are now."_
> 
> Post series one. SPOILERS for all episodes.

Matt wonders sometimes if Stick had had a rough childhood.

And then he realizes the old bastard had probably sprung fully grown out of his mother's head, and had arrived on this earth kicking and beating and already a shithead.

Karen hands him a cup of coffee, and he smiles perfunctory and takes a sip as their current client is telling Foggy about the horrid treatment they've been given by their landlord - Matt listens, but his mind wanders, thinking about the bruises on his back, thinking about the stitches that Claire had had to put in his side, thinking about the fact he hadn't wanted her to leave when she had.

He fingers his phone, wondering how bad it would look if he took it out in the middle of an interview and called her.

He's an awful person. He _focuses_ and knows the client is telling the truth, knows they're scared and angry, and knows they have a propensity for cheese and tomato sandwiches for breakfast. He listens and the three of the Avocados at Law (he's starting to think of them like that, funny; he needs funny right now) circle protectively around the client as the older woman continues to talk.

*

He wanders out of the office on their lunch break; Karen and Foggy are taking the new client to the deli down the street, and he's promised he'll join them there shortly. It's hot, but not awful, and the reverberations and echoes of the _focus_ of the streets allow him to move quickly as soon as the others disappear from sight. He uses his cane, but he walks speedily, the people around him giving way for the blind man they see in the neighborhood and now probably on TV as part of a rising law firm from right here in Hell's Kitchen. He doesn't know if that's good or bad.

The small park is at the corner up ahead, and although his stomach growls (and his side hurts when he twists to smell the hot dogs and chemicals involved in their cooking) he ignores it and finds the bench he thinks of as his and sits, leaning his cane between his legs and loosening his tie. He'd shaved this morning and he rubs his itchy throat, accidentally pressing on a bruise and wincing.

_You're a warrior. Time to stop taking a beating, and time to start giving one._

He pinches his lips together.

_Your training is over._

He wonders why in the hell the old man's memory is coming to him _today_ , and he hears the voices of kids playing, their parents alternately paying attention and not. He listens for a few minutes, noting the children that aren't happy, checking out the why of it, and after a bit he's satisfied that everyone is either just tired or hungry or jealous of Brian's new Spider Man toy. Brian's got dark hair and seems to be the most popular one from what he can tell, and he amuses himself (distracts) by _focusing_ on Brian and the way the other kids want his cool striped tee shirt and his light up shoes (they seem to be malfunctioning; Matt knows the kid will be super pissed when the LED's in them stop working around supper tonight). He listens to Brian's dad and how he (he's a dock worker, fish, and about mid 30's, scruffy but clean) is proud of Brian's grades and how much he loves Brian's mom (although Brian's dad seems to get a heart flutter speaking of her) and Matt doesn't realize Foggy's near him until the other man is almost on him.

"Thought you had super hearing."

"Could you say that a little louder? I don't think the guys at the McDonald's on 56th heard you."

"What are you doing, Matt?"

"Taking a lunch break." He rubs at the bruise on his neck again and sighs. He knows Foggy's disappointed he hadn't come with them or met them like he'd said he would. He can tell by the other man's hitch in his breath and the slump of his shoulders and the irregularity of his heartbeat and he sighs again. "Just thinking."

"I don't like it when you do that," Foggy says. "Means bad things."

Matt smirks and turns toward the other man, aiming his eyes at Foggy's mouth where the sound is coming from, alternating love and frustration and worry. "Not always, Foggy."

"We need you back at the office. What are you doing sitting here with all these kids? It might look a little odd," he hesitates, but then smiles that broad grin Matt is as familiar with as his own. "Although I'll tell you right now, if you want to play the wounded puppy routine, there are some h.o.t. moms here." He stands and puts out his hand, and Matt rises with his cane, tucking the left hand inside Foggy's arm, an affectation he automatically uses for looks and if he's honest with himself because it makes him feel good to touch his friend, his best friend, and feel the heat from Foggy's skin and heart.

"Then why are we leaving?"

Another smile. "Because it's time to get back to work."

_focus_

Matt listens to Brian bragging about his Spider Man toy and the fact the super hero could probably _take out Daredevil, but if he tried, I'd have to kick his ass since DD's from here! Let's play - I get to be Daredevil! Or Spider Man! Come on!_

He snorts a laugh out of his nose and Foggy says "What?" but Matt just nudges him and they walk back toward their office in the spring heat, Matt feeling the eyes of some of the aforementioned h.o.t. moms on his back and hears them whisper (loudly to him) about his nice suit and how unfortunate it is he's blind, what an awful thing for anyone, isn't he kind of cute, and look at how those pants look on his bu-

Fuck Stick. Fuck the old man's callousness and Matt isn't sorry this is how things turned out. He _is_ a warrior and he has the love of three good friends too, and he wouldn't change that.

That night after showering after his kata practice (his handstand is getting much better) he stands at the edge of his cabinets and _looks_ in his way at the box of stuff where he'd hidden his original vigilante stuff and suddenly opens the box, lifting out the tray of things that were his dad's. He licks his lips (they're always dry), and he fishes in the tray, looking for one particular -

It's an old picture and of course he can't _see_ it, but he doesn't need to. 

Pre-accident, pre Jack Murdock's death, pre-Daredevil. 

The stitches pull as he leans forward and touches the photo to his mouth, a benediction to his father whom he wants to honor every day. He hopes against all hope that Jack would be okay with what he's doing.

_We're Murdocks. But we always get back up._

He turns and takes the picture to his kitchen bar, setting it up against a pitcher of water, out in the easy view of anyone who comes to visit.

**Author's Note:**

> I am becoming way too attached to Matt and his feelings, which are now my OTP.
> 
> Feedback is love.


End file.
